Later Ptolemaic

Historical Overview Section

This is the army of Anthony & Cleopatra, but because thats too easy to spell is called Ptolemaic. The Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt began following the Alexandrian Macedonian conquest of Alexander the Great's in 332 BCE and ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Late Republican Roman conquest in 30 BCE. After Alexanders death, one of his Early Successors Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt, creating a powerful Hellenistic state from southern Syria in the east to Cyrene to the west, and extending south to the frontier with Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a center of Greek culture and trade.

The name actually came about as in a bid to gain recognition from the native Egyptian populace, with the new rulers naming themselves in a style which would appear as if they were the successors to the Pharaohs. This unfortunately extended to all male rulers taking the name Ptolemy, and all female ones being Cleopatra (pretty much). The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings - which is never a great idea if you want strong healthy children - and also had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. During the reign of Ptolemies II and III thousands of Greek veterans were rewarded with grants of farm lands, and Greeks were planted in colonies and garrisons or settled themselves in the villages throughout the country, helping form a Greek core to the army.

Family conflicts affected the later years of the dynasty when Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II fought his brother Ptolemy VI Philometor and briefly seized the throne. Handily, no-one had to change the names on the coins though. The struggle was continued by his sister and niece (who both became his wives) until they finally issued an Amnesty Decree in 118 BC. The Ptolemies also had to fight native rebellions and were involved in foreign wars that accelerated the decline of the kingdom and led to its annexation by Rome in 30 BC, following the death of Cleopatra VII. The Principate Roman Emperors of this time were all paranoid - following on from Caesars coining of the phrase "Infamy, Infamy, they all got it In For Me!"

The Principate Romans unsubtly took this as an opportunity to declare that Egypt was a province (Aegyptus), and that this list was redundant. The main Roman interest in Egypt was always the reliable delivery of grain to the city of Rome. To this end the Roman administration made no change to the Ptolemaic system of government, although Romans replaced Greeks in the highest offices. But Greeks continued to staff most of the administrative offices and Greek remained the language of government except at the highest levels. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans did not settle in Egypt in large numbers. Culture, education and civic life largely remained Greek throughout the Roman period. The Romans, like the Ptolemies, respected and protected Egyptian religion and customs, although the cult of the Roman state and of the Emperor was gradually introduced.

Using the army in FoG

The pukka Superior Roman legionaries (from 55BC) are excellent troops, as are the Thorakitoi, either as heavies or mediums. Taking all 24 should be a baseline for your list

Arab camelry are a novelty item, but only in the way that an inflatable rubber hammer is a novelty item - fine down the pub, but no good in a real fight. Just forget the Arab camelry, they are useless.

MF Thorakitoi are the best terrain troops around - better even than the permitted Thracians - although Thracians are good too, but may give you too many RGo troops if used with the Thorskitoi.

The Poor pikes are very tempting, and can just about get away with being used. But 10's may be the way to go giving you the ability to keep at maximum factors even if you suffer losses. Also wedge them in between other decent stuff - if they get overlapped they will struggle

Elephants can support the flanks of the phalanx while the Thorikitai work further out on the wings, in reserve, or in terrain, depending upon the situation.

You don't need an IC - unless relying on a lot of Poor pikemen, in which case his extra + in CTs may be crucial, as could the cheap Poor Cretan foot as support. Otherwise, 4 TCs will be fine with this army.

Take Superior Legions - they will do all the fighting, make them as good as possible.

The cavalry force looks like a distraction from spending points on lots of decent foot. 12 isn't quite enough to be decisive, especially when only 4 LH are allowed to support them.

800 AP, 16 BG, no bonus to PBI
The poor quality MF unit and the lancers typically act in support of pikemen. There will be some terrain, thus the LF and Thorakitai. This much pike can't be avoided by your opponent. Think about operating pike 3 stands wide and nearly 3 deep against shooty cav armies in order to increase frontage by 50%.

Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list

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Created by admin.
Last Modification: Wednesday 23 of December, 2009 14:59:22 GMT by admin.
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